Olufemi Adeyemi
The Executive Director/CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Ezra Yakusak has disclosed the national non-oil export recorded the highest performance in 2022 with a total value of $2.59billion.
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council called on Nigerians,
especially exporters, to work together to drive the country’s economic survival
through non-oil exports.
Speaking during the First National Forum of States Committee
on Export Promotion held in Abuja on Wednesday, Executive Director, NEPC, Dr
Ezra Yakusak, said the non-oil exports performance of the country had been on
the upward movement within the last one year, notwithstanding the impact of
COVID-19 on the economy in 2019 and 2020.
He said the national non-oil exports recorded the highest
performance in recent times, with the total value of $2.59 billion,
representing 62.37 per cent growth compared with $1.60 billion recorded during
same period in 2021.
“Permit me to inform you that in pursuant to the aggressive
economic diversification agenda of the Federal Government, early this year,
NEPC launched a national non-oil export stimulation initiative tagged the Export4Survival.
The campaign was developed to boost foreign exchange earnings through the
non-oil export sector while preparing Nigeria for an economy that would not be
dependent on crude oil export for its survival.”
He said the NEPC was partnering with the National
Orientation Agency (NOA) to carry the campaign to the grassroots, noting that
as a critical stakeholder, chairmen of States Committee on Export Promotion
(SCEP) were expected to join hands in propagating the campaign in their
respective domains.
He said over the years, state committees had contributed
significantly to the development of non-oil exports across the federation.
Nigeria is largely an oil-dependent economy and has
struggled to diversify away from oil. Of about $45bn exports in 2022, only
$10bn was non-crude.
According to Yakusak, through the partnership of NEPC with
SCEP, the nation had witnessed a sharp increase in the number of NEPC offices
from 15 in 2016 to 34.
“We are strongly hoping that Bayelsa and Yobe States would
soon come on board to have full national coverage,” he noted.
“Regrettably however, as important as the SCEP is to non-oil
export development in the country, the potential of this important committee is
not being fully utilized. It is on this note that we convened this forum to
discuss identified challenges bedeviling SCEP operations in each State and to
jointly proffer workable solutions.”
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